11.20.2012

Kevin Clash Resigns from Sesame Street

It's official. Kevin Clash, the voice and puppeteer behind Sesame Street’s beloved Elmo (my favorite character of all time), has resigned from his position following the aftermath of the allegations that he had an underage sexual relationship some years ago.

Read up below!

Sesame Workshop released the following statement:"Sesame Workshop’s mission is to harness the educational power of media to help all children the world over reach their highest potential. Kevin Clash has helped us achieve that mission for 28 years, and none of us, especially Kevin, want anything to divert our attention from our focus on serving as a leading educational organization. Unfortunately, the controversy surrounding Kevin’s personal life has become a distraction that none of us want, and he has concluded that he can no longer be effective in his job and has resigned from Sesame Street. This is a sad day for Sesame Street."

The sexual accusations were made public only last Monday, but then later recanted by his 24-year-old accuser. The episode led to Mr. Clash coming out as a gay man, something he had not previously discussed in public. “I have never been ashamed of this or tried to hide it, but felt it was a personal and private matter,” he said in the statement last week.

Apparently, production of the show will not be affected by the resignation. In fact, during his leave of absence, Kevin himself had been helping look for other puppeteers that could play Elmo and some filled in for him while he was away.

It's a sad day for Sesame Street indeed! I understand that with Kevin still on the show, parents might find it controversial. So from that side, I get why he resigned. But still! This man has been playing Elmo longer than most of the people reading this blog have been alive (since 1974!) It's just sad that he is leaving with his name disgraced like this for no reason, when somebody takes back their story like that! I wish him well with his future endeavors, though he could probably just retire from those checks Elmo has been raking in over the years!